Container for corrosive substances



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Sept. 4, p KNUDSEN CONTAINER FR CORROSIVE SUBSTANCES Filed June 5, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I Sept. 4, 1945. P. E. KNUDSEN l l2,384,099

CONTAINER FOR CORROSIVE SUBSTANCES Patented Sept. 4, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CONTAINER FOR CORROSIVE SUBSTANCES Percy E. Knudsen, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Pittsburgh Plate 'Glass Company, Allegheny County, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application June 5, 1943, Serial No. 489,787

(ol. e-2) Y 3 Claims.

The present invention relates to the provision of corrosion-resisting tanks or receptacles and it has particular relation to the construction of such tanks or receptacles from glass.

One object of the invention is to provide tanks or receptacles of relatively large size and of high strength, but consisting substantially solely of glass.

A second object of the invention is to provide tanks of the foregoing type, which are relatively simple and easy to construct.

These and other objects of the invention Vwill be apparent from consideration of the following specification and the appended claims.

It has heretofore been recognized that glass is highly resistant to corrosion by most chemical agencies, such as most acids and oxidizing agents Because of this property, bottles and other small containers for such materials have commonly been prepared from this material. However, because of diiiiculties of manufacturing glass articles of large size and of adequate strength it has heretofore been virtually impossible to employ glass as a structural medium in the fabrication of large vats and tanks, such as are employed in the metallurgical industries for plating, pickling and cleaning operations. Tanks for these purposes therefore have commonly been constructed of wood, concrete, metal and the like. These obviously are not satisfactory for the purpose, because they are gradually decomposed by many active chemical agencies, such as acids of thev nature of sulphuric acid, chromic acid, phosphoric acid and the like, which are commonly employed in the chemical industries in various treating operations.

In accordance with the provisions of the present invention it is proposed to fabricate containers of relatively large size and consisting almost Wholly of glass by building up the walls of the containers of narrow, flat strips or plates of glass of greater width than thickness, laid face to face and having alternate projecting and recessive end portions providing dentations interleaved with'and connected to similar portions of the contiguous side Walls.

For a better understanding of the invention reference may now be had to the accompanying drawings in which like numerals refer to like parts throughout.

Inthe drawings Fig. 1 is a plan view looking downward upon a tank constructed in accordance with the provisions of the invention;

Fig. 2is a sectional view taken substantially upon the line II-II of Fig. 1; Y I

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view showing on a larger scale aV detail of the corner construction of the tank shown in Fig. l; f-

. Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view illustrating the manner in which the glass plates constitutingthe` side walls of the tanks are interleaved at their corners. l 1

In a tank constructed in accordance withthe provisions of the present invention, side walls II) and II and end Walls I2 and I3 are supported upon a glass bottom plate I4, preferably of tempered glass: The bottom plate may rest uponv setting strips I6 of polished and tempered or an# nealed glass, which are disposed under all of the edges ofthe plate I4 and which also may be spaced at suitable intervals under the entire area' of the plate. These setting strips preferably rest upon solid glass blocks Il, which are carefully. levelled upon a suitable supporting surface in such manner as to obtain bearing contact of allof the setting strips with the Vplatel I4.

.Side walls I9, II, I2 and I3, as best shown in Fig; 3, are builtrup of narrow strips or bars" I8 of polished glass plate, which also may be'tempered bythe so-called Herculite process, which involves the sudden chilling of the plates (alev ready cut and formed) while they are heated to a temperature approximately of softening of the glass. bonded together by means of a corrosion resistant cement, such as that provided by sodium silicate,

asphalt or any other cementing material, which' will resist the attack of the vmaterials to becchtained in the tank.

It will be evident from Fig. 4 and also from.` Fig. l that "all of the plates'or bars I8 upon a sidei Wall are of a single length. In order to provide projecting end portions or dentations I9 to inter'` leaf with similar portions of the contiguous wall, the plates are alternately slightly staggered to the right andl leftv (longitudinally of the plates? to provide a dovet'ailed effect. It will beobservedA The faces of these plates preierably'are at 28, to receive the lower portion of a washer:v and nut assembly 29. This assembly Vis ,covered and protected by a cup 3| of glass or other corto face contact to provide side walls, said plates being bonded together at their contiguous faces by means of a corrosion resistant cement, the plates upon a side wall extending from corner to corner of the container and being of the same length and alternately being staggered to the right and left in the plane of the side lwall in which .they are, disposed Ytov provide dentures intermfeshing wi-1th,` similar.'Y dentures; from a contiguous side wall, the projecting end portions of @the Iplates being bored to receive through fbolts y locking the sidewalls together the bolts further having "nuts threaded upon their upper extremirosion-resisting material embeddedinfa, coping bar or rail 32, which is recessedorchanneled as indicated at 33 snugly to fit overfthe topedge of tiesthe rnutsY being covered by inverted glass cups, the lowerv edges of the cups being counterf sun-k into. the upper face of the dentures prothe wall. This coping extends entirelyabout the. ,Y

upper edge of the tank.

In order more securely to hold the recessively set end portions of the upper plates in the Walls, they together with the contiguous plates beneath are bored to receive stud bolts 35i having upper nuts and washer assemblies 36, Awhich arealso enclosed in glass cups`31, set in a manner similar to the cups 3l. The lower extremity of the bolts are .also provided with nut and washer assemblies 38 set in recesses 39 in the contiguous vglass plates. j Y

Smaller sizes of tanks constructed in accordance with the foregoing disclosure mayl conveniently be assembled at the factory and shipped in completed form to the user. However, vunder some conditions and for the larger sizes of tanks it maybe more convenient to build the tanks up insitu upontheir permanent foundations. It will be apparent that r.the tanksmay be con- A structed with side walls of substantially any'desired thickness. There-fore, any degree of strength required may be obtained. YAll exposed 'portions of the tank consist essentially. of glass orf corrosion-resisting cement'andv the few metal parts required are completely protected either by the glass or by the coping rail 32.- This lat--4 ter, -of course, acts as a buffer toprotect thev edges of theY glass walls from being chipped. The rail may be formed of wood, rubber or other suitablematerial which can easily be replaced peri-v odically as it deteriorates under wear and the action of corrosive chemicals. It Y is manifest that the glass strips I8 can be manufactured ex-` ceedingly simply merely by cuttinglarger plates of glass after grinding and polishing to appropriate length and suitably boring the end portions to receive the anchoring bolts.

The forms of the invention herein shown; and described are to be considered merely as exemplary. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that numerous` modications may lbe' made therein without departurefrom the spirit; of the invention or the scopeof the appended CBtVmS. v i

What I claim is: Y f

1. A container for corrosive substances comprisingnarrow plates of glass laid up at in face vided bythe uppermost plates of the side walls in order 'to exclude corrosive liuids from contact with the nuts.

2. A container for corrosive substances comprising narrow plates of glass laid up ilat in face to face contact' to provide side walls, said plates being bonded together at their contiguous faces -by means of a corrosion resistant cement, the plates upon a side extending from corner to corner ofv the container and beingV of lthe same length andalternately beingstaggered to the right and left in the plane of the wall in which they are disposed to provide spaced projecting dentures intermeshing with similar dentures from a contiguous wall, the projecting dentures being bored to receive through bolts, said lbolts being set in cement disposed in the bores ofthe projecting dentures the bolts further having nuts threaded upon their upper extremities, the nuts Ibeing covered by inverted corrosive resistant cups having their lower edges sealed in countersunk portions in the upper facesrof the upper dentures whereby to protect vthe nuts. from corrosion.

` 3; A container for corrosive substances comprising narrow plates. of glass laid up ilat in face to face .contact to provide side walls, said plates. beingbonded together at their contiguous faces by vmeans of Ya corrosionl resistant cement, the plates inA a side wall extending.r from kcorner to corner ofthe ,container and being of the same length and ,being` alternatively staggered to the right and leftin the plane of the side wall in which'they .are disposed toprovide denturesjintermeshing With similar den-tures rfrom a contiguous side wall, the'projecting end portions of the plates being bored to receive through bolts locking the side walls together, the bolts further having nuts threaded upon their upper extremities," the nuts 'being'v covered by inverted glass cups,V the lower edges' of the cups being countersunk into the upper faces of the'dentures provided by tlie uppermost plates, a coping of resiiient material disposed upon the upper edges of the side walls, said coping having recesses formed therein litting over'theupper portions of the Cups .A

f PERCY E. KN'UDSEN. 

